"Him?"

At that moment, a dangerous aura spread from the Empress. She rose slowly, every muscle in her legs taut, as if she might leap forward the very next second.

If there had been a danger meter beside her, its bar would be spiking—shooting up, rocketing, exploding, enough to punch straight through the ceiling!

"Empress! Calm down!"

Rudolf noticed the shift in her mood at once, slid a step forward, blocking Mizuno completely behind her.

If the Empress lost her reason and charged, she could intercept in time, shielding Mizuno's life—and chastity.

If it came to it, she wouldn't hesitate to knock the Empress out cold. After all, the rational Empress surely wouldn't want to attack someone herself.

"Mizuno, stay behind me, I'll protect you—eh?"

But what surprised Rudolf was that before the Empress had even acted, Mizuno slipped around her cover, walking forward on his own toward her.

"Empress-san, please don't be rash. I only might know something…"

Mizuno stopped at a distance—not too near, not too far. His manner was gentle, his tone steady. Not a hint of panic showed.

"In fact, what I know could very well be false. So even if you captured me, tortured me, what I say couldn't lead you to that man."

"…." The Empress froze at those words, clearly stunned.

After a moment's dazed silence, she slumped back onto her seat, as if her strength had drained away.

"I see…" Her expression dimmed again. Head lowered, she stared at the embroidery in her hands without a word.

"Whew…" Seeing her calm again, Mizuno secretly wiped away cold sweat.

Close call. Good thing when Rudolf had introduced him earlier, she'd said "he might know where that man is" instead of "he is that man."

It was like the difference between a map and the treasure itself. People rush headlong for treasure—but a map with uncertain worth? The urgency is cut sharply, especially when it's a map that probably doesn't even lead there.

Otherwise, with her intense reaction just now, if they'd revealed his real identity, no way she'd have stayed calm…

That was why Mizuno dared refuse Rudolf's protection, stepping forward to ask the question he most needed answered.

"Empress-san, you… why do you want to find him?" He swallowed hard, nervous, and put the question to her.

Her answer would decide how much truth he dared to reveal.

If it was dangerous, everything he said would be false. If not—he could leak a little truth.

"I don't know…" His question seemed to drag something painful to the surface. She clutched her head, face twisting in distress.

"Clearly I've never met him. Don't know anything about him. He's not even some impossibly handsome man—just… a warmth. Something warm. I can't even remember his face anymore…"

"But I just want to see him again. To get closer… to know him… to explore him…"

"Daytime… midnight… it doesn't matter when. Every moment, his shadow flashes before my eyes… but I can't touch it. I can't focus on anything else at all…"

"And not only me. I've heard many Uma saw him too. They used every means to find him… and without exception, all failed…"

"Not of this world… appeared that day with storm winds and rain… toyed with Uma's hearts…"

"That man… is definitely a demon."

It was as if she were releasing all the grievance of the past weeks at once, speaking every thought in her heart with her face clouded in despair.

Her words left both Mizuno and Rudolf in brief silence.

"A demon… hmhm~" Rudolf's lips curved as she looked at Mizuno, who was listening seriously.

"What do you think, Mizuno-dono?" she teased, curious how he'd react to being described that way.

"Ah…" Mizuno scratched his head, forcing a wry smile.

For a normal man with a conscience, being called a demon was a little painful.

But not too painful. After all, compared to wanting to Uma Pyoi him, seeing him as a demon was safer, wasn't it?

Thinking that way, his mood lightened again.

The Empress, unaware of Rudolf and Mizuno's little exchange, continued speaking to herself.

"That demon has already hurt so many Uma. He absolutely cannot be left unchecked."

"So I must find him. Then… then…"

Her voice rose with intensity, hands clenched tight, even her pale cheeks flushing red.

"Then what?" Mizuno asked, curious.

She raised her head, teeth gritted.

"Then… lock him in a basement forever!"

"Pfft!" Mizuno nearly spat blood.

Why a basement again?! Do Uma have some special attachment to basements?!

In his agitation, hot blood trickled from his nose.

"Eh…" Noticing another nosebleed, Mizuno calmly pulled tissues, wiping it away.

But since the Empress was now in her "clean a whole room if one leaf blows in" state, he didn't dare toss it into her bin—instead he tucked it away into his four-dimensional pocket.

"…Besides that? Do you have any other wishes you'd want to fulfill?" Mizuno pressed.

"…?" The Empress gave him a puzzled look.

"What's the point of asking that?"

She didn't understand—weren't they just talking about the mysterious man? Why jump to her wishes?

"Of course it matters." Mizuno crossed his arms, nodding firmly.

Fortune had explained it to him when giving the commission: why the ten Uma who had seen his Uma Mint fell into strange, broken states.

His Uma Mint constitution was a conductor that drew out an Uma's inner desire.

Not only did it stir them to want to Uma Pyoi him, it also unearthed the true wishes buried in their hearts.

In daily life, everyone has desires. But because of circumstances, those desires are too hard to achieve. So they bury them deep, abandon them. And in time, they forget what their true wishes even were.

But if something digs those wishes up and lays them bare, the person is thrown into confusion, unease, paralysis—questioning what they've been doing all along, stuck between chasing the wish or clinging to the present.

In the end, the result is that the wish isn't fulfilled, and even ordinary life can't be maintained.

The Empress's compulsive cleaning and embroidery might well be manifestations of those hidden wishes, bubbling to the surface.

And if Mizuno could help fulfill those wishes awakened by his Uma Mint, perhaps he could free them from its negative grip. That was Fortune's advice.

But of course he couldn't just tell her that. So he rephrased it.

"Empress-san, didn't you call him a demon? Think about it. A demon preys on desire, seduces the heart with it. If you voice your own desire, maybe it could lure 'it' out."

"You mean that?!" The Empress jolted, eyes blazing with expectation, locking on Mizuno.

"…Maybe." Mizuno scratched his head, guilty.

Of course it wasn't true. Once her mood lifted, once he helped her achieve the wish, he'd slip away—never reveal himself.

But the Empress believed him. Believed this might be the chance to see that man again.

So she pressed her head in her hands, forced herself to think deeply of what she truly wanted.

Strangely, as she thought, the mysterious man who usually haunted her mind at every instant flickered less and less. Replaced by something she had never once considered before.

"I want… I want…" In her dazed eyes, a hint of clarity sparked.

"To raise a night-blooming cereus with my own hands. To see it blossom with my own eyes…"